jason treat and kurt mutcHler, ngm staff; antHony scHick. art: Bryan cHristie
PHoto (flaP): josH l. morgan, HarVard uniVersity; artHur Wetzel, PittsBurgH suPercomPuting center
Global digital
storage, 2012:
2.7 billion terabytes
Storage capacity
needed to produce
human brain image
1.3 billion terabytes
Storage capacity
needed to produce
mouse brain image
450,000 terabytes
1mm=1,000microns*100microns10microns3microns
Blood vessels
1micron
ANATOMY OF A NERVE CELL
jason treat and kurt mutcHler, ngm staff; antHony scHick. art: Bryan cHristie
PHoto (flaP): josH l. morgan, HarVard uniVersity; artHur Wetzel, PittsBurgH suPercomPuting center
sources: jeff licHtman, HarVard uniVersity; daniel Berger, massacHusetts institute of tecHnology; international data corPoration
*the 1-mm image is from
a different data set than
the other images.
deep brain dive
for the first time scientists can visualize how
neurons actually connect with one another.
the three blocks at right have been colorized
but are not an artist’s conception: they show,
at increasing levels of magnification, real
neurons in part of a mouse’s brain receiving
signals from the face. technology may soon
make possible a similar reconstruction of an
entire mouse brain—and eventually of the
vastly more complicated architecture of the
human brain, opening the way for advances
in understanding schizophrenia, depression,
and other mental diseases.
Cell body
the neuron’s power-
house, responsible for
generating energy and
synthesizing proteins
an image a millimeter
high—less than four-
hundredths of an
inch—shows nerve cells
arranged in orderly
layers and columns.
a section a hundredth the size
reveals blood vessels among
pink cell bodies and a tangle
of their axons and dendrites.
magnified again by 100,
this section more clearly
shows axons (blue) and
dendrites (yellow). Budlike
dendritic spines receive
information from other
cells’ axons across gaps
called synapses.
HALF THE WORLD’S HARD DRIVES
Visualizing neurons at the level of
detail shown in these images requires
unprecedented computing power.
Producing an image of an entire
human brain at the same resolution
would consume nearly half the world’s
current digital storage capacity.
magnified yet again, this section
reveals synaptic vesicles (yellow
grains) containing neurotrans-
mitters, which carry chemical
messages across synapses,
signaling the receiving nerve
cell to fire or stop firing.
Dendrites
Branching projections
that pick up signals
from other neurons
Axon
a long nerve fiber that
conducts information from
the cell body in the form of
an electrical impulse
Glial cells
the glue of the nervous
system, supporting, feeding,
and protecting neurons
Axonal terminal
end point of an axon’s branches, where
electrical impulses are discharged; releases
neurotransmitters that carry chemical
messages to other cells’ dendrites